Motorola updates Droid RAZR page with ICS details and features

Motorola has updated the Droid RAZR page, and it's now full of information and details about the forthcoming Ice Cream Sandwich update. Nothing is ever official until it's official, but word is that we'll be seeing the ICS OTA for the RAZR family sometime next week, so this would be very timely if that were to happen. Moto is going deep with the info here, offering up short videos for things like the lock screen, widgets, home screen customizations, and even a very well done complete overview of the changes.

We'll let you watch them all for yourselves, but we have to say it looks very well done. Hopefully the update process goes smoothly, and mostly bug-free, so the wait stings a bit less. Check em all out at the link below.

Nike+ Android app finally released!

Hey, all you runners out there who have been tirelessly hoofing it, waiting for the Android version of the Nike+ app. It's here. Finally.

Nike tonight announced the Nike+ Running App for Android, which, as you'd expect, connects you to nikeplus.com, making exercise social. But chances are you already knew that. Get your download on at the link below, and get back out there. Because there is no finish line.

Sprint has carried some of the previous EVO models in white, and they were pretty popular sellers. We expect to see this one in white as well, but we may be looking at a photoshop fail. We've asked Sprint, and we'll let you know if they have good news.

Most frequently used apps, Jell.... [From the Forums]

Just in case you missed out on some of the Android news today, now is the time to go ahead and get yourself fully caught up. Here on the blogs and in the Android Central Forums there is plenty to talk about. Have some questions? Need some help or just looking to chat Android? You know where to go, check out some of the threads below to get started.

LevelUp Studio introduces Peti, a free puzzle game for Android

Most folks will know the name of LevelUp Studio from their Plume and Beautiful Widgets apps but they've gone ahead and ventured into a new area with their latest release. Yup, gaming is now on the developers list and as such they've now unveiled a pretty fun and free puzzle game called Peti.

Peti (People for Ethical Treatment of Invaders) will place you in a new world wherein you must save aliens that fall to Earth and send them back to their mother, all in an effort to keep her happy so that she doesn't destroy all of humanity.

Overall, the game will feel familiar you to you as it takes on a retro style much like Tetris or Dr. Mario but given that it adds plenty of new twists, achievements and special powers to make it more than a "drop and place" puzzle game, it's certainly one to check out.

The graphics and characters are fun, the game itself is challenging plus, it's free. For a first run at gaming, I'd say LevelUp Studio did quite well. Grab the download, check out the game trailer below and let us know what you all think of Peti in the comments.

Google has confirmed that a software issue is to blame for the HTC EVO 4G LTE and its Google Wallet woes. Previously we reported that many users were experiencing a problem where the app was said to be unsupported or in an unsupported country, and Google says this is all caused by a software issue on the phone itself. While there was no mention of when to expect a fix, Google assures that it's fixable in software, and is working with HTC and Sprint to rectify the issues. This all hashes up pretty well with Google Wallet Support's previous statements, and we hope to see a fix come out soon.

Sonic The Hedgehog is having a birthday: Game sale time!

In honor of Sonic The Hedgehog's birthday the nice people at Sega are applying some hefty discounts to the Sonic games available in the Google Play store.

Sonic CD is down from $4.99 to $2.99 (£2.99 - £1.99)

Sonic The Hedgehog: Episode 1 is down from $3.99 to $0.99 (£2.49 - £0.69)

Sonic The Hedgehog episode 2 is down from $6.99 to $4.99 (£4.99 - £2.99)

BARGAINS!

The offer finishes on June 22, so go grab them soon. I'm not seeing the discounts here in the UK on the web so excuse the lack of links you can click. Just head on over to the Google Play store on your phone and take advantage of Sonic's birthday bash.

I have a real problem when it comes to buying cases for my Samsung Galaxy Note. I know I'm not the only one but I have a bad habit of putting on cases then taking them off a week or so later. Then, I'll buy another and repeat the whole process over again. Sadly though, naked devices have no protection against the accidental bumps, drops, scratches, dings and whatever else you can imagine bad happening in the run of a day. Luckily, I have found Incipio Feather Ultralight Hard Shell that offers a fine balance between offering protection, keeping things light and not adding a ton of bulk. Interested? Jump below for the full look at it and see if it's a right fit your usage.

We're definitely in the middle of developer season right now across the Mobile Nations. While Google I/O might not kick off for another week, Android's competitors in the mobile space have all now shown off their latest wares and developer tools. One which Android developers may have so far overlooked, is the improved Android Runtime coming to BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.1, of which the developer beta was recently released.

Having learned all about the Android functionality back at Devcon Europe in Amsterdam, the potential extra revenue stream for Android developers was pretty impressive. After all, when is extra revenue not going to be impressive? But, that said, functionality in the current Android Runtime offering is quite limited. There is no access to the camera for example, and no ability to offer an in-app purchase model. Both of those are addressed in PlayBook OS 2.1, and RIM has taken to their developer blog to offer up the lowdown on how to make your in-app purchase models work with BlackBerry App World.

Especially with BlackBerry 10 on the horizon, the door for Android developers over there appears to be opening ever further. RIM boasts great things about how much moolah their registered developers can make. There are some amazing Android developers out there who deserve every opportunity to be financially rewarded for their work. RIM just gave them another.

If you're an Android Developer and this sounds like an opportunity for you, head on over to the source link below for the full rundown. There's a whole week to kill until I/O after all.

Well well well, what do we have here. It seems that a possibly careless listing on the part of Google has just outed the next version of Android. It's outed as version 4.1, as Jell... -- we're going out on a limb here and saying Jelly Bean -- and more specifically, that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be the first phone to receive it. Wowzers.

So, we've all been assuming for weeks upon weeks that we'd be hearing something about the next iteration of our favorite mobile platform. It isn't the biggest surprise in either name or version number, but it is a little surprising it has been outed in this way.

So, are we going to see some sign of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean next week in San Francisco? As it stands, all signs would point to yes. Exciting times folks.

Google gives app developers a way to respond to reviews in Google Play Store

Google Play review trolls beware! Developers no longer have to remain silent when faced with flaming on their app listings.

Google today announced (along with a major redesign to its developer site) the ability for devs to respond to customer reviews on their apps in Google Play. This has been a long-requested feature, for the obvious reason. App reviews and star ratings mean life and death for an app. And while many customer reviews are helpful, you'll also see a number of reviews that don't make sense, or ding an app for something the developer has no control over.

OK, so flamers and trolls are the negative side of this. On a more positive note, developers will be able to actively address issues and answer questions. (Until now, that's been next to impossible.) And that's a definite bonus, said developer Saleh Esmaeili, who's bringing the popular Carbon Twitter client to Android.

"Many users leave feedback meant for app developers as app reviews, and some even report bugs while reviewing apps," Esmaeili told Android Central. "It will be a great opportunity to overcome the limitation and answer back right where it is asked."

And that's exactly what he'll be able to do. Developer responses will be posted publicly, on the app listings, right alongside the existing reviews. And if you leave a review on an app and the developer responds, you'll get an e-mail letting you know your comment was answered. You'll then be able to contact the developer directly if you have further questions.

One catch: Google's initially rolling out the feature to developers who have a "Top Developer Badge," but that should cover a good many of the most popular apps out there.

All in all, it's an excellent addition to the selection and purchasing experience on Google Play.

Google spruces up its Android developer site

Ever stumble across Google's Android Developer site only to be turned off by lists of classes and codes and scripts and other such non-earthly devices? Or are you a budding developer who longs for a simple, more elegant way of having the nuts and bolts presented to you?

Google's just launched a redesign of its Android Developers page, with three Ds in mind -- Design, Develop and Distribute. The implications of that alliteration should be obvious enough, and Google's calling the refresh "Streamlined, simplified and refocused. Give it a gander when you've got a minute.

Top 10 things you need to know about your Galaxy S3

If there's one thing we discovered in writing our exhaustive TouchWiz Nature UX guide, it's that there's a ton of stuff to discover on the Samsung Galaxy S III (S3). We've been using it for the best part of a month, and we're still finding new features. So we've put together a quick round-up of the top ten things you need to know about your new Galaxy S3, if you're picking one up over the next few days.

Take a look through the list below -- chances are you'll discover all manner of features you didn't even know your phone had!

Here's a lesser-known feature of the new Galaxy S III -- the ability to connect all manner of USB peripherals to Samsung's latest flagship phone, from mass storage to input devices. You'll need a USB OTG (on-the-go) cable to be able to connect all this stuff into the Galaxy S III or any other USB host-supporting phone.

Like the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note before it, the S III supports full USB host capabilities, meaning if you've got the right connector you can go completely nuts and plug all sorts of stuff into the phone. In our video, we tried USB memory sticks, full-sized SD card readers, USB hubs, hard drives, keyboards and mice. All of them worked. At one point we even had a hub plugged into the S III, allowing keyboard and mouse support simultaneously.

While we don't imagine many people will be using this feature every day, it's certainly impressive to see a smartphone able to handle such a wide range of USB gadgets, including full-sized desktop peripherals. Check out our video demo of USB host on the Samsung Galaxy S III above, and be sure to share your own experiences down in the comments if you've tinkered with this sort of thing yourself.

Dolphin Browser HD has long been a favorite on Android with its speed and huge feature list, and it's about to get even better. With the release in beta of the new Dolphin Engine comes the claims that it is the highest performing HTML5 mobile browser out there. Indeed, Dolphin Engine scores higher than both Chrome Beta, and the stock ICS browser as well as Firefox. Impressive.

So where does all this performance come from? Dolphin Engine is an improved webkit version with extensive canvas enhancement and some pretty serious behind the scenes nuts and bolts that gives it that added boost. We could nerd out on technology all we want, but for most of us, numbers will tell enough of the story.

Dolphin Engine's HTML5 rendering is 5 - 10x faster than the stock Android browser, and at times 100% faster than Chrome Beta. Double impressive. With HTML5 the future of the web, Dolphin is certainly shaping up to be a formidable foe in the mobile browser stakes.

For the full rundown on the new Dolphin Engine beta, and to download for yourselves hit the source link below. The usual caveats apply though, it is still in beta, so expect some bugs along the way.